The Battle Cry (The Guardians of Tara Book 2)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “He should have been able to tell us all of that,” Cameron agreed. “But that’s what we’re trying to explain. He couldn’t tell us anything else, and only Lugh may know why. We all know something fishy is going on about the Nemedians and this rock and Lugh’s isolation so if you’re really the god I’ve always believed you are, then level with us. This is our child, Dagda.”

  The Dagda blinked at him then sighed and ran a hand over his eyes as if this conversation had already exhausted him.

  “All right,” he relented. “But I honestly don’t know where Lugh is. After the first Battle of the Gods, many of us went to Findias to see him, but none of us—not even me—could find him. Uscias eventually told us he wanted to be left alone, and we had to respect his wishes. I’m assuming Semias told you that only Lugh is a powerful enough diviner to tell you why your child’s future is so… mysterious?”

  Selena nodded and shot the Dagda a curious look. “The way everyone talks about him, he seems like such an extraordinary god. Why would he have turned his back on his own family like this? On Badb?”

  “I don’t know,” the Dagda admitted sadly. “But I also can’t pretend to know what dying does to a god. Many of us have assumed his isolation was out of some sort of depression and anger. I doubt he knew how badly he’d be needed by the god who would replace him. You did know him once. Those memories may not come easily now, but he was a friend to you both. You didn’t know him in this life, but if you try to remember him, you’ll know why we revere him. Try not to judge him too harshly for this.”

  “There’s some insignia on the Stone of Fal’s tapestry,” Cameron said. “It’s not one of ours. Lugh must have known something about the history of this Treasure and the Nemedians, and it’s awfully suspicious that he’s been missing since the Stone disappeared. Don’t you think?”

  The Dagda nodded and his long red beard brushed against his chest. “The Stone did belong to the Nemedians. Lugh’s reputation as a master of all things was earned for a reason, Sun God. I was always convinced there was nothing he couldn’t do, and he somehow knew things without being told. He wasn’t psychic. I’m not talking about being able to pick up on thoughts and emotions. It was like he could see the history of gods playing out before him just by touching something that belonged to them, or something that even once belonged to them.”

  “Whoa,” Cameron interrupted. “I’m not sure if that’s really cool or would drive me crazy. But I’m definitely sure I’m glad I didn’t inherit that.”

  The Dagda smiled sadly at him and shrugged. “Lugh was remarkable. But he did know the story of the Stone of Fal and it’s possible he knew more about it than I can tell you. He was often secretive about some things.”

  “No wonder he and Badb got along so well,” Cameron mumbled.

  Selena snickered and asked the Dagda, “So what do you know about the Stone and the Nemedians?”

  The Dagda lowered his eyes and studied the back of his hands for a few moments before taking a deep breath. Whatever he’d been hiding from the gods of the Tuatha Dé was about to be unhidden. “Long ago, this world was shared by two families of gods: the Nemedians and the Fomorians. Despite what the legends say now, Nemed was no descendant of Noah’s and the Fomorians were not monsters but gods much like ourselves. After all, Lugh’s grandfather was Fomorian. The Nemedians and Fomorians fought vicious battles for control of this world, and when the Nemedians won, Nemed enslaved many of the Fomorians and forced them to build a castle made of gold, promising them release once they completed his castle. Instead, he slaughtered them and the surviving Fomorians fled the Otherworld.”

  “Holy shit,” Cameron interrupted. “And we thought Balor was the most evil god in our history.”

  “Balor was definitely no angel, Cameron,” the Dagda said. “But you’re getting ahead of me. The Fomorians, including Balor himself, went to Ireland and the western part of Europe where they recruited help among the powerful druids of the Celtic peoples. They brought them to the Otherworld where the druids placed a curse on Nemed’s castle, transforming it from gold to glass and preventing him from ever escaping it. His wife, our Macha’s namesake, then led the Nemedians for many years, and she was a good leader. A powerful goddess who was as wise and strong as she was gentle and kind. But the Fomorians had never forgotten the loss of their home, and launched a second war against the Nemedians. This time, they won and sent the surviving Nemedians to scatter the Earth. Some went to Greece, where they became the gods of Olympus, and some to Ireland, where they became our family.”

  “And you won the Otherworld from the Fomorians in the second battle of Mag Tuired,” Selena clarified.

  The Dagda nodded again, brushing his long red beard against his chest. “This is our real history and none of this is a secret, Daughter,” he went on. “Semias or even Badb could have told you this much even though neither were around to witness it. We won the Otherworld from our ancestor’s enemies. But what you asked about… what you really wanted to know… that’s what the oldest gods of the Tuatha Dé have kept hidden for thousands of years.”

  “The Stone,” Selena breathed. “What does it do?”

  “The Nemedians were able to win the Otherworld the first time because of that Stone,” the Dagda answered. “It doesn’t just proclaim kings and rulers. That Stone belonged to Macha and it bestowed on her a tremendous amount of power. She was virtually invincible as long as it remained in her possession. The Fomorians knew about the Stone and stole it, which weakened the Great Queen, and led to her defeat. When we finally drove the Fomorians from the Otherworld, we were able to bring it back to Falias, but that Stone belonged to none of us and did nothing for centuries until we brought it to Tara. It is potentially dangerous though, Children, because if its rightful owner is a god as wicked as Nemed, not even you will be able to stop him.”

  Selena and Cameron exchanged uneasy glances then Cameron sat beside his girlfriend and gently lifted her hand. “The ability to bestow unlimited power on its heir… and it’s in the hands of our enemies.”

  “Yes,” the Dagda replied. “And the heirs of enchanted items are often random. It could belong to someone as righteous as Macha, or someone as evil as Nemed.”

  “And if it’s the latter,” Cameron finished, “we could lose the Otherworld.”

  The Dagda shook his head slowly and offered the young gods a sympathetic look. “Not just the Otherworld, Cameron. You could lose Earth as well.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sirens wailed all over Baton Rouge, immediately alarming both Cameron and Selena as they returned to the city to rejoin their friends in the search for Huitzilopochtli and the army he’d been amassing. Selena opened their hotel room door and summoned Badb who grabbed her hand and began pulling her away.

  “We have to get to the hospital,” Badb said.

  “Again?” Cameron groaned. “I thought Ukko forced Loviatar to end the outbreak. And she’s dead now.”

  “She did end the outbreak,” Badb explained. “Something else is going on in Baton Rouge though. I’m not sure who’s responsible…”

  The whirring of the rotor blades of passing helicopters made all three gods look to the sky where a long column of black choppers quickly approached the city. The walkway vibrated as the heavy rumbling of treads clamored down the street beside them. Cameron walked to the edge of the hotel and peered down at the street where tanks and Humvees passed in a loud procession toward downtown Baton Rouge.

  “What the hell,” he murmured. “Are we being invaded?”

  “Yes,” Badb whispered. “Either killing Loviatar didn’t stop whatever has been set in motion or there’s another god capable of inflicting disease on mortals because this city is under siege. And the hospitals are being flooded with reports of the plague.”

  “Oh God,” Cameron groaned. “Not the plague again.”

  “Which god?” Selena asked absentmindedly. Her eyes remained riveted to the procession below them.

  “I don’t know,�
�� Cameron admitted. “But Badb, look at this place. We can’t just go into a hospital and start healing people like we did in New Orleans. The government knows about us now, and they’ve ordered the New Pantheon to either arrest us or kill us.”

  “But people will die, Cameron!” Badb protested.

  Cameron ran his fingers through his hair as he watched the invasion of his home city, the heavy realization that people in his city had been afflicted with the plague. And then the heavier realization of exactly what this meant for him personally seemed to punch him in the chest, causing a sickening pain that made it difficult to breathe. “My God,” he whispered. “My family.”

  The hotel dissolved into a quiet neighborhood with pin oak trees dotting the front yards near the sidewalks, causing the concrete to buckle and break in the trees’ stubborn insistence to spread its roots wherever it damn well pleased. Cameron felt Selena’s hand wrap around his as she stared at the modest brick ranch style home in front of them. One light remained on and illuminated the shadowy figure of a lamp through the curtains in the living room.

  “They’ll be all right, Cameron,” Selena promised. “If anyone is sick, I’ll heal them.”

  Cameron swallowed and continued to stare at the front door. His front door. The same door he’d unlocked countless times after school or coming home to visit during college. This was his home, and the gods had brought their own Hell to it.

  “My father always told us never to trust the gods,” he murmured. “And I’m supposed to walk in there as one of them? Look at what they’re doing.”

  “You’re not doing any of this, Cameron,” Selena countered. “We’re here to stop the gods destroying your state and to save people.”

  Cameron shook his head slowly as Selena pulled him toward his parents’ front door. “He was right. None of us should exist anymore.”

  “Cameron,” Badb scolded, “don’t be ridiculous. And you’re not allowed to have a mental breakdown because we’ll get our asses kicked without you, so let’s check on your mom and dad, make sure they’re not sick, and see if Nemain has tracked down whomever has caused this outbreak.”

  Cameron wanted to argue with her, but they’d reached the door and Selena quickly knocked on it. He also wanted to disappear again, either back to Murias or at the very least, the hotel, but he heard his mother exclaim through the door, “It’s Cameron!”

  The red door swung open and his mother pulled him into her arms. She cried against his shoulder, asking so many questions, he didn’t have the chance to introduce either goddess standing on the doorstep with him. “How’d you get back into the city?” she asked again. “And why would you come here? Haven’t you been watching the news?”

  “Um… no,” he answered sheepishly. “I know there’s an outbreak, but honestly, I haven’t been watching the news.”

  His father waited behind his wife, eyeing his son curiously, but he finally sighed and tugged on his wife’s sleeve. “For God’s sake, Alison, let them inside the house before they get arrested.”

  His mother stepped back into the entryway but pulled Cameron with her, unwilling to let him go. The television still played in the living room, and he heard the familiar voice of the same national news anchor he’d grown up listening to but couldn’t make out the words he was saying. “What is going on with all the troops and helicopters?” he asked.

  His father pointed to the dark street outside. “NATO, that’s what. Nobody’s saying why but we’re all pretty sure it has something to do with a sudden smallpox epidemic in New Orleans followed by the actual goddamn plague breaking out in Baton Rouge.”

  “Brent,” his mother scolded.

  “Which god?” Cameron asked before he could stop himself.

  His father blinked at him so Cameron shrugged back. “You’ve invoked some god twice now. Just want to know which one you’re referring to.”

  Alison touched his cheek and smiled at him. “Still my silly boy.”

  “Mom,” Cameron groaned.

  “Boy?” his father repeated. His father’s attention shifted from the troops in the street to Cameron and he snapped, “You seriously can’t tell he’s changed?”

  Alison waved him off. “I don’t care.”

  “Didn’t I warn you, Cameron?” his father asked. “I thought you were in Buffalo working for a new brokerage firm, but you’ve been hanging out with these gods? What have they done to you?”

  “Brent,” Alison hissed. “I said I don’t care! Leave them all alone.” She pulled on Cameron’s hand and tried to drag him toward the kitchen, determined to feed him whether he was hungry or not. He smiled even though he knew he would have to come clean with his father whose distrust of the gods was bearing fruit in the city he’d been born and raised in.

  Alison kept shooting sly glances in Selena’s direction so Cameron finally pulled his hand away from his mother’s so he could reach for his girlfriend. “Mom, we’re not hungry. Ok, that’s a lie. I would kinda totally smite someone for your crawfish étoufée right now, but…”

  Alison held up a hand and smiled at Selena. “Say no more. I have a package of crawfish tails in the freezer.”

  “Mom,” Cameron laughed. “The actual plague is breaking out in Baton Rouge, and we have to deal with the cause of it. We don’t have time to eat. We’ll take a rain check. I promise.”

  “Why do you have to do anything?” Alison asked, her smile fading as her eyes darted between Badb and Selena now, perhaps sharing her husband’s concern about the company Cameron had been keeping for the first time.

  “Because those two are gods,” Brent said bitterly. “And gods always think they have all the answers.”

  “Um…” Cameron stammered. “Ok, first, this is Selena, my girlfriend. And secondly…”

  “Girlfriend?” Alison repeated, her smile returning even if he was dating a goddess.

  Cameron sighed and rubbed the palm of his hand over his tired eyes. “It’s a long story but yeah. That’s the short version. And the redhead who isn’t really a redhead is Badb, one of the Irish Mórrígna.”

  “And why are you with an Irish war goddess?” Brent demanded.

  “Dad,” Cameron tried again, “is this like some parental blinder thing? Like when I was in high school and the one and only time I’ve ever gotten drunk after getting into your scotch and you totally believed I was just coming down with the flu?”

  His father folded his arms over his chest and mumbled, “I didn’t totally fall for that.”

  “You got drunk in high school?” Alison asked.

  “Ten years ago, Mom,” Cameron answered. “Bigger problems now.”

  Alison turned to her husband and demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Ten years ago, Alison,” Brent sighed. “We all have bigger problems right now.”

  Selena leaned closer to Cameron’s ear and whispered, “Maybe you should just tell them. They don’t seem to want to believe what’s right in front of them.”

  “What’s right in front of us?” Alison asked nervously.

  “Me,” Cameron responded. “Turns out, I’m the heir of Lugh, the powerful Irish sun god, who died about five hundred years ago. His power got passed down to me, but the only way to become the next sun god on the Irish pantheon was by accepting his Spear, which was symbolic of accepting my place on the pantheon. I didn’t want to become a god…”

  “Oh my God,” Brent breathed.

  Cameron nodded. “Yeah, but let me finish. Selena was also a demigoddess. I followed her to New Orleans about three months ago because the New Pantheon was chasing her, and I helped her escape. Turns out, she was supposed to inherit Dian Cécht’s power, the Irish god of healing. Even though she wanted to become a goddess, she was willing to give it up for me, but she was kidnapped by this asshole Sumerian god and the only way I could save her was by taking Lugh’s Spear, which turned me into a god.”

  “You’re a god…” his father said quietly.

  Cameron nodded again and decided
to leave out the whole, “This is actually my second life” part of his long, complicated story. His parents’ expressions told him they’d been shocked enough for one evening.

  “But… Cameron…” his father tried again.

  “I know how you feel about the gods, Dad,” Cameron assured him. “But they’re not all bad.”

  “There were rumors of giant hawks flying through the French Quarter, and a soldier suspiciously died!” his father shouted. “And don’t tell me the gods don’t have something to do with these outbreaks. Nobody gets smallpox or the plague anymore.”

  “Yeah, but…” Cameron tried, but Badb interrupted him.

  “Cameron? I think you need to turn around and see what’s on the television.”

  He and Selena both entered the living room to see what had caught Badb’s attention. A live video feed of NATO troops pouring into Baton Rouge still played across the screen, but the reporter was no longer talking about the siege of Louisiana’s capital. He was talking about them.

  “The White House has just confirmed the cause of these recent deadly outbreaks in New Orleans and Baton Rouge are the result of supernatural activity. Colonel Gerald Krapohl of the Louisiana National Guard has provided detailed descriptions for these composites…”

  “Hey!” Cameron objected as their sketches appeared on the screen. “I saved that bastard’s life, and this is how he repays me?”

  “What are we doing to do?” Selena murmured.

  “The President’s going to be live at a press conference in half an hour,” Badb replied. “We can hope he’s going to be rational. After all, he worked with Ukko. He has to know he can’t blame every god still alive for the actions of a few.”

  “You mean like he was so rational when he ordered the New Pantheon to declare war on us?” Cameron retorted.

  Badb chewed nervously on her lip as she continued to watch the television screen and the coalition of NATO troops setting up blockades around the city. “Conceded,” Badb agreed quietly.